As a former Australian resident, I'd argue vehemlently against mandatory voting as all it does is force people to vote when they don't want to. It doesn't force people to pay attention to politics, it doesn't make people more aware of the world around them or the issues affecting them. If anything it makes it easier for bad politicians to get elected as they can pander to the easily manipulated who would otherwise not vote by scare mongering rather than campaigning on real issues. The US already has a huge issue with that.

As for a national holiday, that's a uniquely American problem that is of it's own making by allowing political parties to interfere in nuts and bolts of running an election. I've voted in Australia and the UK, it's never taken particularly long, 30 mins max in Australia and you're in and out in 10 mins in the UK. Australia runs it's elections on a Saturday and polling stations are open until 6 PM, the UK runs their elections on weekdays but the polling stations are open from 7 AM until 10 PM. Despite recent attempts by the Conservatives to use American style disenfranchisement (it didn't help them) voting takes minutes in the UK. The US needs to look at what is creating the lines and eliminate it rather than make it a day off... however I suspect many American politicians know what is creating difficulty in voting because they fully support it as they hope it means people won't be able to vote for their rivals.

I used to work for an American company where everyone got 4 hours "National Voting Time Off" and it was asked after the election why no-one in the UK took it. They were surprised to learn that voting over here is so quick that most of us did it outside of work hours (including using part of our lunch break).

Investors are stupid and easy to manipulate. Particularly when it comes to leaders, add to that the fact that it's near impossible for a small investor lead movement to unseat a board or executives as they themselves will hold significant quantities of the shares, in particular voting shares. The whole point of stock buy-backs was to consolidate power back in the hands of the few who support the board and C-levels. Ergo, the current management becomes more or less unaccountable. See Boeing, QANTAS, Intel and those are just the first three I can think of off the top of my head.

Yet another reason why the obsession around the stock market is doing more harm to economic stability and health than good.

Yep, so long as there is no penalty in western countries for providing these services to scam centres, they'll continue to do it.

I don't disagree with your points and it shows the UK is still a free and fair country that we're permitted to criticise our politicians and police without an unidentifiable cosplay agent arresting us for being immigrants (although some people would love that to happen with the complete lack of self awareness that a police state will also be turned against them) but I digress.

I think a large part of the problem is that the UK has become such a safe environment that people are no longer or no longer feel the need to take basic self preservation measures. A lot of the phone theft can be stopped by simply not walking around with your head buried in your phone. The attraction of petty crime is that it's easy (far easier than getting a minimum wage job) and people seem to insist on making it even easier than it used to be. I'm not victim blaming, definitely don't support that kind of thing but people really need to start being a bit more responsible, a bit more aware of the risks and dangers around them. Just a few prudent steps to safeguard yourself and your property like paying attention to what you're doing and what's around you.

Same with the shoplifting problem, a lot of it can be stymied by the shops themselves but they don't want to as it will reduce the sale of impulse items as security measures, especially passive ones, will occupy the space that is most ideal for displaying impulse items. So they'll complain but until the problem gets bad enough for them to make some changes to store layouts (I.E. checkouts by the exits, like back in the 80s and 90s) it's all just "won't someone please think of the profits".

The problem is, there are still some people who didn't think Brexit and the Tories kicked the UK in the bollocks hard enough and want Farage to do it again and again.

Whilst the Tories needed to go, Starmer is a lame duck and Labour really needs to up their game. It is funny watching Starmer have a fit whenever Andy Burnham pokes his head out of Manchester.

Ford has made an electric version of their Transit van, this is a GM problem rather than an America problem. Just about every van manufacturer in Europe now offers an electric version of their van product.

Imagine being able to get the medical care you need without having to worry about it bankrupting you.

You don't worry at all.

That's life in every other western country. Also dealing with the DVLA (DMV here in the UK) is a breeze. It's all done online, in my 10 years here I haven't had to visit a DVLA office for anything and previous to that in Australia, the last time I visited a DOT office was the day I got my license. Everything else could be done by post or online.

Maybe the US needs to start electing adults to fix things. Although you may no longer have that option.

Floriduh has problems, house prices are dropping (and no-ones buying), inflation is going up, cost of living, thus far trying to blame it all on migrants, blacks, gays, women, muslims and jews hasn't magically fixed everything so now they're going after the old stalwart, video games to keep the real problems out of the headlines.

Peak stupidity is allowing, let alone supporting private companies to have control over your health care.

Requiring your shit to be analysed to see what they can charge you more for is so far over the peak you're in another country. I can see it happening though.

just because a phrase is in use for a while doesn't make it above reproach

i mean, the commenter has a point. using the word 'slave' in the context of 'i'm not being paid well' kinda dilutes the meaning of the term. it's like using 'genocide' to refer to every goddamn thing

Filter coffee can be good, but you need to start with decent coffee. Also need to keep the equipment clean and in good working order. Most coffee is shit because you start with terrible beans (pre-ground) and then use sub standard equipment that has been used 20 previous times without even being rinsed out.

I'll be the first to agree that there are far better methods of making good coffee, espresso pump, cafetiere, moka pot, even just an Aeropress at a pinch as you'll at least clean that after every use (or should). However the same problem remains, if you start out with bad coffee, you'll end up with bad coffee. Garbage in, garbage out, get decent beans (or grounds if you absolutely must) otherwise it doesn't matter what you do.

And you don't need to spend the earth, I've a £60 burr grinder and a £200 Gaggia espresso machine and that makes excellent coffee. Even though I'm sure some coffee snob has just choked on their cat shit reading that but I find it's a lot like photography, getting better (read: more expensive) equipment won't make you a better photographer but bad equipment will make you a worse one. Same with coffee, I'd consider what I have to be the minimum for a decent espresso.

This... except being dumb enough to put it in your back pocket. It's stupidly easy to pickpocket anything from there and the pickpockets know it. It's like a huge neon sign that says "Please Rob Me".

I want a reasonably priced phone that has a tough screen (gorilla glass) no bigger than 6.5" and a headphone jack. Doesn't need to be particularly powerful, good battery life is a bonus but not essential, but these days you can't even find an expensive phone like that. Instead we're being pushed into expensive, ultra thin, oversized, fragile phones that need a huge case to make them remotely survivable in real world usage, negating the thinness. No wonder sales are struggling.

And that company is trying to convince it's workers that it's really the union that is causing their problems. The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.

This.

Anyone who thinks /. is a less civil environment than 20 years ago clearly wasn't on /. 20 years ago. GNAA trolls, NAMBLA trolls, attentioin switcheur trolls, frequent links to goatse or 2girls1cup... Even the rampant fanboyism and cliques have mellowed these days.

It was just an excuse to trot out the old "western civilisation is dying" trope, forgetting that the US is not the sum of all western civilisation (and the demise of the US is entirely it's own doing).